Groupwise 6.5/Netware 6/W2K clients; New users cannot receive external mail but can send it without a problem

I've been given the simple task of creating 2 users for the Netware 6 environment and Groupwise 6.5. The accounts were created and users can access the network, login script runs fine and interoffice email works. I haven't really touched Netware since IntranetWare(4.11) in 2000, but remembered some things.

As a test, I had one of the users send an email to an AOL user and a Hotmail user. Both received the email, but when they replied, the message never made it to the new users' inboxes. The person replying would receive an error stating "Undelivered mail returned to sender". At the end of the message, it states "The Postfix program <username@internet mail domain>: Service unavailable"; where username@internet mail domain actually specifies the user account

All users already on the network don't have this problem; only the 2 I created. I'm sure there's a simple solution to this; usually is. One or two settings had to have been overlooked during the account configuration. Just can't figure it out right now. Novell documentation not helping me right now

Also, I used ConsoleOne with the Groupwise Admin snap-in to create the accounts as opposed to NetAdmin, if it matters

Yes, it DOES matter that you used ConsoleOne instead of NWADMIN, because GroupWise v6.5 is not supported under NWADMIN. You really shouldn't be using NWADMIN these days, unless you've got some backrevved

Check for spaces in the email address if there is a space you can then
correct the Full name entry on the user account by replacing the space with a - or _. Then create an nickname on the account for the e-mail address with the space, this way the user can still receive messages to that account. Spaces in e-mail addresses are not RFC compliant.

Yes, it DOES matter that you used ConsoleOne instead of NWADMIN, because GroupWise v6.5 is not supported under NWADMIN. You really shouldn't be using NWADMIN these days, unless you've got some backrevved product that only has Snap-Ins for NWADMIN. You should be using ConsoleOne and iManager.

And yes, it took a long time to pry NWADMIN from my fingers. I still miss certain aspects of it, notably the speed and the multiple windows with independent object views.

There's only one GWIA and class of service; it's the default. The EVERYONE group is associated with the GWIA and yes these new users are part of EVERYONE. Also, the problem is RECEIVING emails from external mail addresses.

I'm sorry if the convention I used confused you a bit, but there are no spaces in the email addresses for the users.

I've performed synchronization several times already from within the Groupwise Utilities, but lookin at the Tools...eDirectory User Sync menu, I notice that the Status of the MTA is Disabled. Please help!!!

Please don't do the Homer Simpson, "DOH!" when I say this, but I can't recall at this time how to switch between loaded NLM views. Currently, the Logger Screen is active and a number of NLMs are loaded. Tell me how and don't laugh too hard. I know my way ten-fold around a pc, server and network(hardware wise), but some aspects of Novell are indeed foreign right now. Can you tell me where to go?

eDirectory User Synchronization Configuration menu from the Tools menu of ConsoleOne already showed the current and only Domain as disabled for eDirectory sync. It was like this before the new user creations

At the console (its different if you use Remote Console - since you don't say I'm assuming you're at the console), press and hold the <CONTROL> key, press <ESC> and release both keys. This will bring up an ordered list of screens available on the server (if you have NetWare v6.5 SP2, it'll also show the Address Space in which each one is loaded).

Press the number beside the appropriate screen to go directly to that screen.

Just noticed something else, if it matters. In the Admin Status, eDirectory User Synchronization says Yes, eDirectory Authenticated says Yes and shows the distinguished name for the MTA; however, ConsoleOne shows eDirectory sync as disabled for the domain. Something wrong here maybe?

Make sure that the GWIA, PO and the domain are at the same version and service pak level or you can have some real issues. For example if the Post Office is at a higher version than the Domain they may not communicate properly.

Manage projects of all sizes how you want. Great for personal to-do lists, project milestones, team priorities and launch plans.
- Combine task lists, docs, spreadsheets, and chat in one
- View and edit from mobile/offline
- Cut down on emails

Also noticed that there are 4 items sitting under the 10 MINUTES column in the MTA monitor; these are quite possibly the 4 test messages I sent in from a Hotmail account. MTA restart has completed. Anything else to wait for?

Sorry, just about to leave, altho I may get a chance to check back in a few hours.

The "10 Minute" column tells you the # of those items processed/happening in the past 10 minutes. So yes, that was the 4 messages you sent, as they made their way thru the MTA on the way to the GWIA. So you know there is nothing wrong with your POA-to-MTA link.

Your probelm is only with two users, if anything was wrong with your infastructure it would effect everyone. Just concentrate on the differences between these two users and everyone else. In Console One go to user properties, the groupwise tab, and internet addressing. Compare this page with the page of a fully functional user. Are there any differences?

Clearly this is the case. I've eyeballed and scoured the details of these 2 users over and over again and cannot find any differences b/w the account settings of these and several accounts that I know do work.

Internet Addressing is configured at the System level; no local user overrides. All 5 naming conventions are enabled, one Internet domain enabled and preferred naming convention is selected. There are no differences whatsoever that the eye can see!

There's no special template the users or the originals was created from. Here's a long shot, but do I need to have my iSP sync their DNS with our internal server? Maybe reaching at this point, but hey

Just another bit of information to throw at you. I just realized that their email is seemingly relayed from another mail server; hosted at MXPath.net. Undeliverable messages are sent from one of a few mail servers at this domain. I'm thinking maybe some reconfiguration has to be forced here. Anyone familiar with their services? Secretary just found the admin login information that I'll check out once I get to the client's site; won't be there until after 2pm CST. So, PsiCop, I won't be able to post those logs until then.

3rd party is hosting mail for the client. I had to add the 2 users to the mail server in order for them to receive mail, but strangely, I didn't have to in order to send mail...WEIRD. But the problem is resolved

PsiCop, the request for the Groupwise topic was requested that same day by another user.

Now, about those points....

I'm rewarding them based on attempt at solving and success at getting me reacclimated a bit to the NetWare environment

I suspect the 3rd party was being a Smart Relayhost for the GroupWise system. Their SMTP server was probably configured to relay anything the GroupWise system sent it, whether or not the sending user had an account. Fairly typical setup and easy to do with, say, sendmail, using the "relay domains" configuration option. I just set something like that up last night, as a matter of fact.

That explains why the users were able to send mail but not receive it. The relay host between the GroupWise system and the Internet would have needed the users listed in whatever redirection table it uses to route incoming mail. Seems like the owners of that system could have simply done Domain Name-based relaying (and thereby sidestepped the issue of having to individually add new users), but I don't know enough about the environment know why they chose what they did.

Frankly, I thot gilesjp had nailed it on the head when they suggested the spaces issue, because we got bitten by that issue during our GroupWise v6.5 rollout earlier this year. But the real situation described makes perfect sense.

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Manage projects of all sizes how you want. Great for personal to-do lists, project milestones, team priorities and launch plans.
- Combine task lists, docs, spreadsheets, and chat in one
- View and edit from mobile/offline
- Cut down on emails

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